NHL Power Rankings: Five Best Jerseys In NHL

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Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The NHL has long been known for having some of the best jerseys in professional sports. Whether you are a fan of the Original Six or a fan of a new team, chances are your team has a really awesome looking sweater. Every team seems to have alternate and/or third jerseys, so no matter what your style is, your team probably has a jersey that fits it just right.

Best NHL Jerseys: Honorable Mentions

The first one on my list is an honorable mention because it hasn’t technically been worn in an NHL game yet. However, once it is, it will likely be on my list of the best NHL jerseys because I absolutely love it. It’s the Capitals new home alternate jersey. Sadly, with the arrival of the retro reds comes the departure of the retro whites. If I were in charge of the Caps, I wouldn’t have gotten rid of the retro whites. In fact, I’d probably get rid of the regular whites and just use the retro whites for all road games. Alex Ovechkin sure looks good in it, that’s for sure.

The following jerseys also deserve to be mentioned.

Montreal Canadiens
Detroit Red Wings
San Jose Sharks

Next: #5: Los Angeles Kings

Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Best NHL Jerseys: Kings

The Los Angeles Kings home jersey is quite simple really. It’s not bold. It’s black and white. However, you can never go wrong with a black and white color scheme. First of all, think of all the sports movies you’ve seen. The big bad team is always wearing black, right? That’s because black is awesome. The Anaheim Ducks also have nice black jerseys, but let’s be real, they stole the idea from the Kings.

I also love the Kings logo. On the home uniforms, it has some subtle grey in it, but it goes really well with the black. It looks even better with the white lettering and numbering. Put it all together with a black helmet and black shorts, and the Kings have a very simple, yet very intimidating, look about them. They also have a very clean look for their road uniforms. It’s hard to mess up road uniforms, but the Kings road uniforms look really good.

It really is too bad that the Ducks got black NHL sweaters. It goes against everything that I know as a huge fan of the Mighty Ducks movies. The Ducks have become the Hawks. The Kings and Ducks had a rivalry greater than the Ducks and the Hawks. Sort of loses its meaning when the Ducks have black jerseys.

NHL teams could learn from the Kings jerseys. Sometimes, it’s best to just go with what’s simple rather than try to stand out or make a statement.

For using on black, grey and white, it works really well. The lines are strong and clean (aside from the front of the shoulder yokes). The striping pattern is minimal and consistent (although I don’t think they need the thin grey stripes at the end of the cuffs) and I like the decision to leave the stripes off the bottom of the home blacks. It obviously doesn’t need them while, at the same time, it works really well for the road whites, keeping them from appearing too much like practice jerseys. Also, the font they’re using for the numbers blends the traditional blocked-off corners of hockey jerseys with a new font that matches the font of their logo. It’s a nice piece of subtle branding and consistency and, as much as I’m not crazy about that font on the logo, it works well for the numbers. It’s a really nice mixture of traditional and contemporary hockey jersey design, looking classic and modern at the same time. – The Royal Half

Next: #4: Toronto Maple Leafs

Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Best NHL Jerseys: Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs have traditionally had some of the best jerseys in the NHL. That’s because they found what works and they stuck with it. Over the past 80 years, they’ve kept the same design and only made very subtle changes. Funny what happens when you go with what’s simple and with what works.

The Maple Leafs have always had two colors: blue and white. Blue and white are two colors that complement each other extremely well. Toronto has never decided to get too fancy with the uniforms because they’ve never had to. The only major change that they have made since the 1960’s is getting rid of a big white stripe. Speaking of which, their alternates (a replica of the sweaters they wore when they won the Stanley Cup in the late 60’s) are very nice. Gives Toronto two very solid uniforms to choose from. While their two home uniforms aren’t that different, they don’t need to be. They’re beautiful just the way they are.

Their third jerseys might just be the best in the NHL, according to Leafs Nation.

The font, although quirky, feels more like a hockey font – more movement, strength and personality – than their current usage of Kabel, which is just too friendly and passive of a font for use in a hockey logo. It’s like having Barney Rubble on your hockey team. But aside from the logo, this is another example of the Leafs continuously reaching back into their history for a jersey redesign, using the exact same pattern from the 1927-34 jerseys (ranked last on this list), but obviously not in the crazy over-repetitve manner that those jerseys used. The result is a striking and bold jersey design – simple, yet strong and distinctive. It really is a well-designed jersey with the laces at the collar, the logo I talked about earlier, and all matched with the elegant simplicity of blue and white. The only drawback, the bar of blue on the shoulders. A minor quibble, and not enough to keep it from the top spot. This is one of the finest jerseys for any hockey team in the league to wear, so if anybody mocks you for being a Leafs fan, remember that there’s a very good chance that at least your team has a better looking jersey than their team has ever had. – Leafs Nation

Next: #3: Boston Bruins

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Best NHL Jerseys: Boston Bruins

As I said in the beginning, the original six teams own a monopoly on the best NHL jerseys. Coming in at number three is the longest tenured NHL team in the United States, the Boston Bruins. Originally, they went with gold and brown. In 1934, they made the stylistic choice of changing to black and gold.

The Bruins have a very simple jersey design. They also have some of the best throwbacks in the NHL. The Bruins are a team that pride themselves in having gorgeous jerseys, and rightfully so. They haven’t had many changes to their jersey over the years, especially since adopting their current logo in 1948. Until 1955, they went with their current logo only on their white jerseys.

Their modern jerseys are nice. They’re a nod to the past with enough going on to make them current. Their third jersey leaves a lot to be desired and look more like a pajama set with the lack of striping, but the use of a logo that resembles the franchise’s original one is a great touch. It’d be fun to see them do something more with gold though and perhaps swapping out their current thirds for what they used in the 2010 Winter Classic would be a more fun move. Getting gold right is tough for a jersey, but that Winter Classic throwback-like jersey did it great. – Pro Hockey Talk

As a proud Baltimore resident and Ravens fan, I’ve been trained to irrationally hate anything that is black and gold. But I can’t hate on the Bruins jerseys.

Next: #2: New York Rangers

Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

Best NHL Jerseys: New York Rangers

Coming in at number two on our list of the best sweaters in the NHL are the New York Rangers. They have gorgeous jerseys, especially at home. Usually going with a combination of red, white and blue ends in disaster. However, the Rangers have gone with that color scheme almost 90 years, beginning in 1926 and they make that color scheme look really good. They’ve gone back and forth between going with “New York” and “Rangers” diagonally across the front. They made the right decision by usually sticking with “Rangers”. “New York” just looked weird with their blue and white jerseys.

The Rangers made a brilliant decision in making their NHL Heritage sweaters their third jerseys. I really love them. They feature a darker blue and the “New York” diagonally across the front. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t like “New York” with their usual blue and white jerseys, but it really looks fantastic with that dark blue.

I might hate the Rangers a lot as a Caps fan, but I must give them props for having the second best sweaters in the NHL.

Next: #1: Chicago Blackhawks

Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

Best NHL Jerseys: Chicago Blackhawks

The best sweaters in the NHL, in my opinion, belong to the Chicago Blackhawks. How much do I love their home jersey? I’m not even a jersey collector and I bought one. It’s that gorgeous. There’s so much to love about the Blackhawks home jersey. The red. The vibrant colors. The way the colors pop out at you but don’t steal from the red. The best part about it though is definitely the logo. To some, it might be offensive. However, it is not stereotypical at all, in my opinion. I can’t speak for Native Americans, but I don’t believe their logo is offensive to them. Then again, I’m not a Native American.

Their road jerseys are excellent as well. It’s a simple white that still looks really good with the logo. Once again, the colors never take away from their logo or the white.

The Blackhawks have the best jersey in hockey, and possibly the best jersey in sports. Everything about it is amazing. The way it completely pops off the ice when you’re watching Patrick Kane skate by a helpless mortal trying to corral him on the wing. The perfection that is the [Native American] head logo. – Are We Recording

Quite possibly the most impressive part about the Blackhawks sweaters is how they are constantly having to create new sweaters because of all the outdoor games that they play. Despite that, they still manage to create beautiful yet creative uniforms for each of those games.

Next: NHL Power Rankings July 2015

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